Father Defends Driver Involved in W. Jakarta Fatal Crash
Updated at 7:39 p.m. on Wednesday (10/02) with minor changes throughout
Bekasi, West Java. The father of the driver involved in a fatal crash that claimed the lives of four people in West Jakarta on Monday (07/02) has denied that his son had been driving while drunk. This followed shortly after Riki Agung Prasetio (24) was named a suspect for negligent driving.
Aries Triyono (58) said on Wednesday from his home in Bekasi that Riki and his friends were attending a wedding function on Sunday night, "and I told him to return home right after the party."
However, after the event Riki and his eight friends decided to go to a karaoke booth at a cafe in Kalijodo in North Jakarta, where he allegedly consumed nine bottles of beer. Despite being under the influence, Riki decided to drive, reaching speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour, according to the police.
While driving along Jalan Daan Mogot in West Jakarta at 4 a.m., the car collided with a motorcycle near an oil processing plant. The car tilted on its side and crashed into a tree and electricity poles along the riverbank, before rolling back to the middle of the road.
Four people, including the couple riding on the motorcycle – identified as Zulkahfi Rahman and Nuraini – and two of the car’s occupants, Tatang Satriana and Evi, died on the scene.
"I woke up [at about 5 a.m. on Monday morning] and noticed 17 missed calls from unknown numbers on my cellphone. I checked one of the text messages, saying, "Sir, this is Riki's friend. We just had a crash in Kalideres [near Jalan Daan Mogot]," Aries continued.
Aries, a former assistant manager at state-owned energy firm Pertamina, apologized for the accident, saying that he would compensate the families of the victims, both the deceased and the injured.
Riki, a university student at the prestigious Bina Nusantara University in West Jakarta, could face six years in prison.
Tags: Keywords: